Still here?

Apparently those who thought the world
was going to come to an end this week
were - in some cases - disappointed.

Apparently, for some it would have been
a relief. Those who gave up their jobs
and their possessions certainly had
their world transform, but not likely in
the way they anticipated.

It got me to thinking about what life
would be if we knew when the end would
come. What if we had some warning?
Would people act the way those who believed
did?

The fact of the matter is that we do, in
some way, have a situation just like that.

Most of us know that living to 100 is fairly
unlikely. Average life expectancy in the US
is 78.7 years, so we know the end is coming,
and barring any unforeseen circumstances,
we might anticipate that amount of time
before our world, as we know it, ceases to
exist.

It's just that we play this game that is
part denial. We act as though we have
forever, and as a child it certainly seems
that way. At the age of 5, we've lived
approx 1/15 of what might be the length of
our life. The rest of the time seems so
far away.

Many children know how best to be in the
moment, focusing on that one thing they must
have, or do, now. Their attention may
shift to "when I am older" when they realize
that they do not have the ability to do what
they want to do, thinking that being an adult
will change everything in the most magical
of ways.

I can't help but wonder if that way of
looking at things stays with us - that we
keep thinking that tomorrow will have the
answers we don't have today. So we wind up
living more for what is to come than in what
we have now. As a result, we don't truly
look at what is in front of us. We are
unwilling to see things as they are. After
all, if you don't feel like you have the
ability to change things, you have to find
a way to cope, don't you?

But the thing is...odds are you are not a
child reading this. Odds are you are an
adult who has the ability to discern things
and to make choices. The game is not over
until you take your last breath. Many things
in life may feel impossible to change, but
that is because you have yet to find an
option that you can live with better.

Sometimes it is difficult to see past where
you are because steps have to be taken for
you to be able to see other things. On the
east coast of the US, it is impossible to
see the Eiffel Tower, except in video or
image. It might as well just be a dream.

But get in your car, go to the airport, get
on a plane, fly to Paris, perhaps connect
through somewhere else, and you will be
steps closer to your target, and you will
see things you never saw before, and have
experiences impossible to have while standing
on the eastern shores of the US. When you
look back the things that looked like hurdles
will likely seem insignificant. You probably
had no idea what else was possible along the
way.

It'd be nice if we all had a genie in a bottle,
but since we don't, we have the next best
thing: our ability to make our own magic
through the choices we make.

Yeah. I know. Not the same, at all. One
takes no effort at all on your part.

I can only speculate why life is set up this
way, and there are many who have their own
ideas. But I'd say one key is to acknowledge
where you are, and get moving. Wherever you
are headed, it will take one step at a time
to get there, and I bet if you pay attention
there is some beautiful scenery along the way.

Better yet, the destination may very well be
even more beautiful than you imagined - and
it all began with that first scary step. So
good, in fact, you may even have to refrain
from kicking yourself in the butt, wondering
what took you so long to get there. :P